My Last Best Friend (5 page)

Stacey just smiles and swims the rock back to me. "It's a nice rock, Ida. I like—"

But before Stacey can finish what she was
going to say, Rachel yanks on my sleeve, getting brown fingerprints all over it. "Look!" she hollers. "Biscuit!"

Rachel holds up a drippy brown rock in her equally drippy hand. The rock also has two drippy yellow dots that are apparently supposed to be eyes.

Jenna groans at her little sister. But Stacey looks at that mess of a rock and smiles. "It looks
exactly
like Biscuit," she says. Then she reaches over and takes the rock from Rachel. She paints
Biscuit
on the back while Rachel beams.
Beaming
is what you call it when your face just about splits open because of your big smile.

I know all about beaming. That's because Elizabeth was a great beamer. When she beamed, you just couldn't help beaming right back.

I do not beam at Rachel. I just stand there looking at all the rocks the girls are painting. Jenna's rock is carob colored with creamy speckles. She's painting wings and a beak on it. Brooke's rock is flat and squarish. She's painting it to look like a picture frame and says she's going to paint herself inside. Randi's rock is almost perfectly round. She's painting it to look like a basketball. Meeka
and Jolene are painting matching flowers on their rocks. And Stacey finds two rocks that are the same shape and starts painting them like a pair of pink ballet slippers.

Jenna's mom comes over to see how we're doing. She notices my painted sleeve. "Jenna," she says. "Ida has gotten paint all over herself. Go get a clean shirt for her to wear while I wash this one."

Jenna's jaw drops. "One of
my
shirts?" she says.

"Yes, one of your shirts," her mom replies. "A large one."

Jenna pushes away from the table, grumbling.

"Never mind," I say. "I have an extra shirt in my bag."

Jenna sighs with relief.

I set down my whale rock and go upstairs to change.

When I come back to the kitchen everyone is gone except for Jenna's mom. "The girls went outside to play, Ida," she says, taking my painted shirt from me. She heads off to the laundry room.

I think about going outside, too. I walk over to the table instead.

All the painted rocks are sitting together at the center of the table, drying. My whale rock sits off to one side. I'm surprised to see it now has a tail, fin, and smiling face painted on it.
Stacey
, I say to myself.

Just then I hear a noise under the table. I bend down, expecting Biscuit to spring out and lick my face.

"Hi, Ida!"

It's Rachel.

"What are you doing under there?" I ask, pushing aside one of the chairs.

"Hiding," she says.

"From what?" I ask.

"That," she says, pointing past me.

I look in the direction she's pointing and see a coat tree by the kitchen door.

"You're afraid of coats?" I ask.

"Not coats," Rachel says, her eyes widening. "It's a monster."

"Yikes," I say.

Rachel smiles. "Quick, Ida! You'll be safe inside my castle!" She grabs my arm and pulls me under the table.

Rachel scoots over to make room for me. I sit down next to her and look around. "This is your castle?"

Rachel nods and pushes the chair back in place. She pretends to lock it with a key.

"Does that mean you're a princess or something?" I ask.

Rachel nods again. "Princess Penelope," she says. Then she leans in close and whispers, "It's my secret name."

"Don't worry," I whisper back. "I won't tell."

Rachel beams at me. "You need a secret name, too, Ida."

She reaches behind her back and then holds up an invisible crown. I lean over a little so she can put it on my head. "I crown you ... Queen Cordelia," she says.

I sit up and pretend to straighten the crown. "How do I look?" I ask.

Rachel giggles. "Good," she says.

"Now what?"

"Now you guard the castle while I fight the monster."

Rachel pulls several rocks out of a pocket in her smock and shows them to me. "Ammunition," she says. Then she starts to unlock the castle door.

"Wait," I say. Rachel stops and looks at me. I pretend to sprinkle something over the rocks.

"What's that?" Rachel asks.

"Magic dust," I whisper.

Rachel beams again. Then she says, "Ida, you're a lot more fun than Jenna."

I give her half a smile. Then I sprinkle magic dust on her, too. "Be brave, Princess Penelope."

Rachel gives me a steady nod. "I will," she says. "Fighting monsters ain't for sissies."

She slips out of the castle. I close the door.

Then I sit back and watch her pelt rocks at the coat tree.

Fourth grade ain't for sissies either.

It isn't long before Princess Penelope returns to the castle, victorious.

"Want to have a celebration feast in my room, Queen Cordelia?" she asks.

"Sure," I say. "I've got nothing better to do."

Rachel crawls out of the castle. "Wait here, Queen Cordelia," she says. "I'll call you when the feast is ready."

"As you wish, Princess Penelope," I reply.

Rachel runs off.

I crawl out from under the table and walk over to the kitchen window. The girls are still outside,
chasing each other around the house, screaming and laughing.

"Peasants," I say, using my most queenly voice. I guess getting a secret name changes the way you sound, too.

A secret name
, I say to myself.

Suddenly, I have an idea. I don't have to tell Stacey it was me who left that note at school. I can tell her a secret name instead of my real name.

But what name?

It has to be amazing, like Anastasia.

It has to be...

Cordelia.

I walk back to the table. I pick up a paintbrush and write
Cordelia
on the back of my whale rock. Then I paint little stars around it for magic dust.

I hear the girls coming back inside.

I quickly turn the rock over and set it by Stacey's painted ballet slippers.

Then I smile.

A little, scrunched smile.

When I get to school on Monday, I read the note I wrote to Anastasia again.

Dear Anastasia,

I can't tell you who I really am. But I am NOT Jenna Drews.

Thank you for not waving my other note in front of everyone.

I will be grateful if you don't wave this note in front of everyone, either.

Yours truly,

Cordelia

Simple, yet sincere.

I stuff the note back inside my pocket and wait for the sidewalk to clear. I don't want any snoopy
second graders watching me sneak behind the school.

And I need to sneak, because I have decided that someone with a name as amazing as Cordelia would never toss a secret note onto someone else's desk. Cordelia would hide a secret note in a secret place. A place that only Cordelia and Anastasia will know about.

If
Anastasia is clever enough to find it.

When the sidewalk is empty, I slip around back and head for the playground. I run past the swings, the slides, and the giant sandbox. I run until I come to the hogs. Actually, they're hedges that are shaped like hogs. They're hedgehogs. Get it?

Our playground has hedge animals because Mr. Benson, our custodian, is handy with hedge trimmers. We even have a dinosaur. And a ten-foot-tall giraffe.

I dodge in and out of hedge animals until I come to the cow at the sunny corner of the school. Mr. Benson hung a bell around her neck with
Bessie
painted on it.

I size up ol' Bessie for a minute.

She's grown a lot since second grade.

Since the day Jenna made Joey knock a brick out of the school.

The brick that is now hidden somewhere behind Bessie.

I get down on my hands and knees, squeeze behind her bushy body, and scoot along until I am completely hidden by her branches. I like the way she sort of hugs me all around.

I sit for awhile, wondering if anyone else has been here before. I bet not. Not unless they are a caterpillar or a toad or some other hairy, slimy thing. I check for anything hairy or slimy that might have gotten here before me. But there isn't anything. So I relax and smile a little. Because getting to be first at something, especially when it doesn't involve touching anything hairy or slimy, can make you feel pretty amazing.

I scoot closer to the school building and press my hand against the cool brick wall. I imagine all the kids on the other side getting ready for school. Sharpening their pencils. Licking down their bangs. Punching or getting punched in the arm for no apparent reason.

But not me. I'm safe, crouched behind a cow hedge. And the best part is, nobody knows it.

I start wiggling bricks, one by one, until I find the one that wiggles back. I pull it out a crack and stick my note to Anastasia in.

Then I crawl back out. Back to my old world of chewed pencils and crooked haircuts and bruised knees. I brush a leaf off my shirt, give Bessie a pat, and head inside.

All morning during class, I wait for our first recess to arrive. When it finally does, I pretend to tie my shoes until everyone leaves the classroom. Then I go to the chalkboard and find a small spot that isn't already covered with math problems and social studies questions and classroom papers and pictures Mr. Crow likes to display there. I pick up a piece of chalk and write:

Anastasia:

Then I draw:

I drop the chalk and run outside.

I hope Stacey will see the message.

I double hope she is clever enough to figure it out.

I triple hope no one else is.

I sit with the other girls during lunch, but I barely eat anything. I'm too busy wondering if Stacey will see my message before the afternoon recess. Then, when it's recess, I try to keep an eye on Bessie, but I don't get too close to the hedge in case Stacey catches me hanging around it. So I mostly just wander around the playground by myself, as usual, and wait.

When the recess bell finally rings, I wait for Stacey to head back inside, and run to Bessie.

I squeeze behind her, wiggle the loose brick, and...

My note is gone.

I can't get to sleep that night because I keep wondering if Stacey found my note or if it got carried off by squirrels or something. And if she did find it, I wonder if she will write back to me.

"What do you think?" I ask George. "Will she?"

George is apparently sleeping, because he doesn't answer.

"Not that I'm holding my breath or anything," I say. "I mean, she's so busy running around with Jenna she'll probably forget all about the note by tomorrow. Or else she'll show it to Jenna, and Jenna will show it to everyone, and they will figure out that I'm the weird one who wrote it. Then the whole school will be calling me I-
duh,
including Stacey Merriweather."

I sigh and roll over.

"Still," I whisper. "I wouldn't mind if she wrote back."

As soon as I get off the bus the next morning, I sneak behind the school. I crawl behind Bessie, even though I know Stacey probably hasn't had time to hide a note. And guess what? There's no note.

I crawl out. "I'll be back this afternoon," I tell Bessie. Then I trudge inside.

When I get to our classroom, everyone is already there. Even Jenna's mom is there. She's holding a clipboard, and there is a pencil tucked behind her ear.

The bell rings, and Mr. Crow says, "Take your seats, everyone. We have a special guest today. Please welcome our PTA president, and Jenna's mom, Mrs. Drews."

Jenna applauds.

"Thank you for that warm welcome, everyone," Jenna's mom says. "I'm here today not only as your PTA president but also as chairperson of the Purdee Potato Pageant."

"What's that?" Quinn asks. Quinn wasn't here for last year's Potato Pageant.

Jenna's mom raises an eyebrow at Quinn. Then she scans the room and says, "As
most
of you know, the Purdee Potato Pageant is our town's big fall event. Along with the Potato Parade, 'Tater Tossing Contest, and the crowning of Miss Spud, children in fourth grade are invited to paint the storefront windows of our local businesses. First prize for the most beautifully painted window is one bushel of potatoes to be divided among those working on the painting, and—"

"What's a bushel?" Rusty asks.

"A bushel is the same as four pecks," Tom says.

"What's a peck?" Randi asks next.

"The same as eight quarts," Tom explains. "Four pecks is equal to thirty-two quarts, which is equal to one bushel."

"How many potatoes is that?" Rusty asks.

"A lot," I say.

Jenna's mom gives our cluster a look. "As I was
saying,
" she continues, "the winners will receive one bushel of potatoes,
and
their photographs will appear in our town's newspaper,
The Purdee Press.
"

Brooke Morgan flicks her long hair off her shoulders. "My sister, Jade, is a Miss Spud contestant," she says. "I bet we'll
both
get our pictures in the newspaper." She bats her eyes at Jenna's mom. Brooke probably figures the chairperson of the Potato Pageant gets to vote for the most beautiful window. And there's nothing Brooke likes better than seeing her picture in the newspaper.